Wood, Paper, and Glass Transformed 187 



per does not depend upon a protective coating. The paper is 

 treated with a secret chemical compound which binds the 

 fibers together so that water cannot get between them and 

 float them apart. The fibers in aqualized paper are "welded" 

 together so firmly that a towel of this material can be soaked 

 with water and rubbed vigorously and still remain whole. 

 Even after being in water many minutes the aqualized paper 

 will support twenty-six pounds. At the same time the paper 

 absorbs water quickly; it does not shed it like a duck's back. 

 Potato sacks, linings for vegetable crates, meat wrappings, 

 and similar materials for industry are made of special types of 

 aqualized paper. Draperies for the home, and sheets and pil- 

 lowcases for hospitals, are being produced. This versatile 

 paper can be waterproofed to serve for clothing, tents, and 

 sandbags and, unlike other waterproofed papers, it will not 

 weaken if the protective coating is cracked or broken. 



A new "plasticized paper" is made by treating paper with 

 gluelike resin and subjecting it to pressure. This produces an 

 amber sheet of plastic paper half as heavy as aluminum and 

 almost as tough as steel of similar thickness. British and 

 American aircraft companies are using this material on the 

 wings of airplanes. Paper containers now can hold oil, grease, 

 and other liquids, and a soaking in the ocean or a fall on con- 

 crete makes no impression on them. 



The list of the new uses to which paper is being put gets 

 longer every day. Obviously, a material that is light as well as 

 strong will find many new jobs to do in the postwar world. 

 Dr. Harvey N. Davis, president of Stevens Institute of Tech- 

 nology, envisions all-paper houses and even bicycles con- 

 structed entirely of paper. We may shy away from using 

 paper as a structural material, but this paper won't look like 

 paper, won't act like paper, and will soon make us forget that 

 it ever was paper. 



